Turn off Facebook Places

August 19, 2010

Transcript

Hi, I'm Molly Wood from CNET.com, here to show you how to disable Facebook Places.
By now, I'm sure you've heard about Places which lets you share your location with your Facebook friends by checking in when you go somewhere.
Not surprisingly, not everyone is a fan.
For one thing, you've been opted in by default which is what Facebook always does, and for another thing,
it's possible that your friends could be checking you in Places even if you don't.
So, let's check in to your new Places privacy settings and figure out how to find out what you're broadcasting and how to turn it off.
Under "Account," click "Privacy Settings," and now click "Customize Settings" down here.
You'll see new options for "Places I Check In," which should be defaulted to "Friends Only." Hey, I mean, at least it's not everyone.
Also, there's a check box here labeled include me in "People Here Now After I Check In."
Now, in small type, it tells you that your check in will be visible to both your friends and strangers who happen to be checked in nearby.
This box is checked by default so if you don't want strangers seeing that you're in the restaurant with them, uncheck it.
If you don't wanna broadcast your location to anyone, next to "Places I Check In," click the dropdown menu and choose "Customize." Under "Custom Privacy," you can click the dropdown again and choose "Only Me," and, yes, that is way more steps than it should take.
Next, make sure your friends aren't broadcasting your location.
Under "Things Others Share," there's an option that says "Friends Can Check Me Into Places." Now, on my account, the default was "Select One," but some people said that it was enabled by default for them.
Either way, you can enable that option or, since we're not actually sure what "Select One" defaults to, just specifically choose "Disable." And there you go.
Now, don't get me wrong.
I think Facebook Places is a potentially useful and fun feature, but, as with all things Facebook does,
I just really want them to ask me first.
For CNET How-To, I'm Molly Wood, and you're welcome.